U.S. To Study Climate Change And Human Health Impacts
A report released by a federal working group highlights 11 key categories of diseases and other health consequences that are occurring or will occur due to climate change.
The report, A Human Health Perspective on Climate Change, provides a starting point for coordination of federal research to better understand climate’s impact on human health.
The recommendations of the working group include research to identify who will be most vulnerable, and what efforts will be most beneficial.
“This white paper articulates, in a concrete way, that human beings are vulnerable in many ways to the health effects of climate change,” said Linda Birnbaum, Ph.D., director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the National Toxicology Program, whose institute led the interagency effort. “It lays out both what we know and what we need to know about these effects in a way that will allow the health research community to bring its collective knowledge to bear on solving these problems.”
The white paper highlights the state-of-the-science on the human health consequences of climate change on:
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The report also examines a number of cross-cutting issues for federal
research in this area, including susceptible, vulnerable, and displaced
populations; public health and health care infrastructure; capacities
and skills needed; and communication and education efforts.
"Earth Day reminds us that changes in the environment are affecting
our food, water, and our health," said Birnbaum. "This report
provides a guide for researchers throughout the world who are working
to improve the health of the planet and the health of all people."
"Increasingly, studies including some co-funded by NIEHS, recently
published in The Lancet, have shown us that by understanding how climate
change, human health, and human activities intersect," said Howard
Koh, M.D., assistant secretary for Health for HHS, "we can prevent
some of climate’s worst impacts while providing huge benefits to human
health that actually offset the costs of mitigation and adaptation. The
white paper integrates these new data in a framework that is a new way
of looking at this complex and critical problem."
The ad hoc Interagency Working Group on Climate Change and Health was
formed following a 2009 Institute of Medicine Roundtable on Environmental
Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine meeting on climate change. At
the gathering, leaders from NIEHS, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, and
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognized that the scientific
discussion around climate change needed to be reframed to emphasize the
human health impacts and research needs to address them.
Led by Christopher Portier, Ph.D., from NIEHS, membership of the working
group also includes representatives from the National Institutes of Health
Fogarty International Center, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the
U.S. Department of State, the White House Office of Science and Technology
Policy, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, with support
and input from the U.S. Global Change Research Program and others.
The report was released today online at www.niehs.nih.gov/climatereport (PDF
– 5 MB), and in a special, supplemental issue of the journal
Environmental Health Perspectives.
The NIEHS supports research to understand the effects of the environment
on human health and is part of NIH. For more information on environmental
health topics, visit our Web site at http://www.niehs.nih.gov.
Subscribe to one or more of the NIEHS news lists (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/news/releases/newslist/index.cfm)
to stay current on NIEHS news, press releases, grant opportunities, training,
events, and publications.
Topics: A Human Health Perspective on Climate Change, biofuel, business, clean energy, climate change, climate issues, consumers, development, economic development, economic growth, economic recovery, Economy, energy, Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas, energy independence, Governance, government, health care, health consequences, human health, innovation, Obama Administration, oil, President Obama, renewable energy, research, solar energy, technology, U.S., United States, urban planning, Western Hemisphere, White House, wind energy
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